And She Watches
by WolfAngel62
Summary: And she watches, helplessly, as he slowly slips away. Jace has brain cancer and three months to live. B-day fic for Becca. Major Character death. Have tissues ready, (I hope)


Title: And She Watches

Author: WolfAngel62 AKA Daci or Wolf

Summary: And she watches, helplessly, as he slowly slips away.

Rating: T, for... death.

A/N: This is what happens when you don't have the white noise machine you fall asleep to, so you end up listening to the only music you had time to put on your iPod, Blue October. Sick, twisted music. My house is currently undergoing a remodel downstairs and my upstairs bedroom is left without power but for my lights, heater, and two sockets that are taken up by my little sister's nightlight that she throws a fit about if I unplug it, my tv, and my iPod and phone chargers. in other words, don't be surprised if more sick, twisted fanfics come out, so thank you, Blue October, and thank you Becca, for finally giving me a reason to put something in the TMI archive. Happy Birthday Becca, *blows party horn thingy*

* * *

It hits young, he comes to his family one day with news of a visit to Magnus, he's been hoping for a cure for the incessent headaches he'd been suffering, not a diagnosis of a huge brain tumor that would kill him in three months, tops.

Alec screams that Magnus would have told him, refuses to believe it, storms off to go and find his boyfriend.

Isabelle stays strong, like always, but Jace can tell she's falling apart inside, much like their family, cracked from Max, shatters at this.

Maryse sinks into an armchair and silently cries, doing what her daughter refuses to, giving in.

Robert retreats to his study and buries himself in paperwork, but if the family is quiet, they hear him softly sobbing.

It tears them apart, slowly, painfully, they never see Robert anymore. Alec moved out, broke up with Magnus. Isabelle went clubbing every night, drowning her sorrows in tequila. He tries to pretend he's fine. (he isn't)

oOo

He waits to tell Clary until the third week he knows, when he passes out during a fight, leaving the fiery and confused little redhead to kill the demon and drag him back to the Institute, weak as can be. In the hospital wing she cleans his face as he tells her, tears tracing through the grime on her face. He triees to pretend he doesn't see them. (He does)

Three days later he passes out again, this time while walking to dinner. He wakes up five minutes later in a bed, staring at the cherubs on the ceiling of the hospital wing. he wishes he could drown out Clary's sobs, they sound so heartbroken. He closes his eyes to keep the tears in. (It doesn't work)

oOo

He doesn't want to turn into the sappy guy from the tear-jerking romance movies, but he makes a bucket list with Clary, and they visit Paris, Rome, and every other place they've never been and will never get to go again. Clary puts on a brave face, and Jace pretends to buy it. (He doesn't)

In Paris Clary drags him to the Eiffel Tower, they have dinner at the most romantic resaurant they can find. He doesn't pass out, he doesn't heave up his expensive dinner afterwards. For just that day, they are the normal, everyday tourist couple. the next day bruises appear on his hips, the illusion is over, he tries to keep it going, but it doesn't work. (He pretends anyway)

They return to NYC, he cuts back on the fights, instead preffering to sit in his room and read. He hardly commes out anymore, taking his meals in his room, bruises forming on his golden torso though he does nothing. Clary watches it all through the widow in his door, she tears herself away and tries to erase the image burned in the back of her eyes. (She fails)

He comes out to dinner one night, everyone is shocked but they say nothing, just eat and pretend things are normal. Yet another illusion that is shattered when he declares he wants to go bungee-jumping, and cliff-diving and sky-diving. Maryse freaks out like you would expect a mother to, whether her child was dying or not. Robert, Isabelle, and Alec choose to stare silently at their plates, if they have any thoughts, they keep them hidden and play Switzerland in the one-sided debate between Maryse and Jace. Clary quietly offers to go with him, and then they continue their dinner, a pretty picture torn. He tries to convince himself, and in turn, everyone else, that he is fine, but no one believes it. (He's not surprised)

oOo

They set out to finish off his bucket list, and his little girlfriend frets and worries the whole time, like she expects him to shatter at the slightest touch. (Frankly, he can't blame her)

He sits on the plane next to Clary, dressed in his diving jumpsuit, while she tells him stories through the headsets they wear. She's recounting how they met, and he laughs when she tells him how she burst in, with no clue of how a tiny 16 year-old was going to stop someone with a knife, and freaked out when the demon broke free. he scowls a little when she mentions she thought he was cute ("That was a _demon, _Clary." "Well how was I supposed to know that?"). They jump, their chute opens, they revele the feeling of falling endlessly, they land, and then he collapses. (Sometimes he wishes he could just die, then all the passing out will stop, then he thinks of Clary.)

oOo

He lives a week longer than expected. Everyone holds their breath around him, and he can tell that inside they're all waiting for the moment he crashes. Clary doesn't leave his side, even though he's loopy and can't remember her name half the time. (He wishes he did)

He sometimes sees his father, though Robert tends to stay away, Jace thinks, in his moments of clarity, that his father hopes that by pretending the problem doesn't exist, it will go away. (It won't, Jace knows, he's tried that plan since he found out.)

Maryse simply acts as though it's another illness, feeds him chicken soup that he vomits up later when she's not around. Tries to give him Tylenol despite his insistence that it will do nothing. (He wishes it did.)

He doesn't see his sisters, but he doesn't mind, they'd only sob and leave anyway. It's really best they don't come, he tells himself. (He wishes they would.)

Clary is the only one who stays. (And for that he is grateful.)

oOo

So when Clary wakes up after an uncomfortable nights sleep on the chair next to his bed, she is the first to cry over his still heart, the first to compose herself and break the news. But she will be the last to get over his death, the last to move on with life. So as she twists the diamond ring he put on her left hand when they were in Paris, she crumbles apart, with the only person who could truly console her, gone.

oOo

The day of his funeral is bright and sunny, and Clary climbs out of her car cursing the weather, it's to bright, funerals are supposed to be dark and dreary, the sun simply adds to her grumpy mood that day. Burying him finally makes it real, she'll finally have to admit he's gone, not just away on a trip. She almost didn't come, then took one look at Isabelle through her phone's screen and climbed in her car. Now she approached the small group gathered around _his_ coffin, around _his_ grave, and burst into tears, nearly running away. But she comes up behind Isabelle and Maryse and squeezes between them, they each put an arm around her shoulders as she shook. They slowly lowered his casket and she steps forward, taking a handful of dirt and tearfully proclaiming…

_"Goodbye, Jace."_

* * *

A/N: So, who's lovin the new story features?! I personaly love how we can now put more than two people in the filters, makes it a lot easier.

So, I hope you guys enjoyed the fic, please leave a review, it makes me really happy to know that people are nice enough to leave one. For those of you who don't publish anything, nothing is more discouraging than 200+ views and vists and not one review, they really do make an author's day.

Again, Happy Birthday Becca, hope you liked it. Y'all go check out her forum! City Of Mortals. It's a good one!


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